Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1887-02-11
his son, f.. G.. Smith, are present and give
careful attention
Te.lImony of DO KnRIneer.

his son, r.. &. smith, are present ana give .
careful attention.
Testimony Of the Engineer.
The first witness in the hearing before
the commission was Charles H. Pierce, en-
ginecr of the III fated train, u man with a
dark. strong face. who must be 81 or 10,
but does not look IT, He has been railroad
ing % years, 10 as engineer, and runs he
tween White River Junction and st. Al
bans On the night in question he was late,
but had not made up any time and slowed
up, going not over eight miles an hour
slowed up about 900 feet this side the first
warning was a stroke Of the bell about the
middle Of the bridge applied the automat
ic brakes Instantly. The steam was not ON
looked out and saw the hind end of the
hind sleeper swinging off 10 the right That
swung of taking the three other cars he
fore the coupling broke As soon as my en-
zine came to a stand-still jumped 10 the
ground and ran to the rear of the cars,
and, looking off, saw the cars lying ON the
ice below. ran back 10 my engine, Sc
cured a coal shovel and a lantern and ran
down the side of the bank on the north side
of the bridge instead of the same side the
ears were on, because IL was SO steep on
that side that it seemed impossible OF de
scent. As it was ! sat down on the top Of
the embanknent and slid the whole length,
rapidly passing under the bridge, and i'm
mediatcly reached the first passenger car
which was about in the middle Of the river
1t had not broken through the ice and there
was no water in IT, but it evidently struck
ON the corner and squashed down TO about
one half its height and lay upon its side
with the bottom toward the bridge. The
whole train lay in the same order upon the
ice as il was made up before falling. There
were left with me of the railroad employees
who had not gone down with the wreck my
fireman, Frank Thrasher, Mr.. Cole, the
baggage master. the express messenger and
two mail agents whose names ! do not
know The baggage master and my fire
man went down TO the wreck with me.
When we reached it the fire had started
| from the stove in the rear Of the first pas
semger car and ! did not look further than
/ that car, but at once did what could 10
| put out the fire 10y throwing snow with my
| shovel This ] at once saw TO he useless.
as the fire had already made 50 much head
| way, and We at once began 10 help the PEG
| pie ont First | took out through the win
| dow two ladies and two men whose names
/ do not know heard II number crying
/ for help inside the car, and, passing along
/ toward the rear, ! saw Mr. Sturtevant, the
! conductor, in the car near the rear, crawl
ing upon his hands and knees, with his
! clothing and back all on fire. ] broke the
window before him, and shoveed in snow
as lac passed along toward the front of the
car irving 20 find place where he could
get through the side Of the car which was
on top These windows were all INSTRUCTED
by broken seats and debris. Near the front
end he found an unobstructed window
through which assisted him and laid him
upon the clear ice under the bridge while !
went 10 assist others The next one as
sisted out was Mr.. Tewksbury. Ny fire
man and the baggage master helped me all
of the time After this We helped two 9th
err men. my fireman crawling inside the car,
removing seats and other Instructions that
pinned them down and We lifting them out
Of the window above. | first saw the fire
in the rear of the first passenger car, but
am confident that the fire did not commu-
I nicatc at all from car 10 car but that IL
originated separately in each Of the four
cars. The wind was blowing quite strong
from the north. No part Of the bridge was
on fire until the flames from the burning
car, lcnped high enough to reach it. The
SHOW was all Of foot in depth ON the ice
! cannot say anything about the other
coaches, As put in all my time ON the first
one ! met the brakeman, Parker. He ask
ed me if he had not better 20 to the June
tion and give the alarm ] told him u 20
As quickly a. possible and get a team if he
could asked him how he escaped. and
he said he did not know He was hatless.
The first assistance from the junction came
up on the engine sent from there There
were lot Of people on it There were
none alive then who could have been saved
from the ruins, think.
Th.
Frank II 1hrasher Of St Adams. fire
man on the night express, testified made
my third trip on this express on the night
Of the accident The first ! knew of any
accident was upon hearing the bell sound
when about in the middle Of the bridge.
saw the cars 20 over the bridge | went
down 10 the wreck alone, Engineer Pierce
having started ahead Of me, and ran to the
nearest car, or the fourth from the rear.
The ear was on fire when | arrived | en-
tered the burning car through a window
with the engineer We pulled cut a woman
through window There was another
woman behind her, and this one seized hold
Of her dress, which began to tear We got
the other one out later. One of them said
that she was freezing, and started for the
Paine house. helped her there When
returned ] went to the rear car Of all. the
! PURITAN, ald LOOK TWO women ana one man
out Of it. ! think that each Of the four
cars was set on fire 10y the stove in each
could not enter the second car from the
rear, the st. Adams ! broke some of the
windows, however. The cars Law all about
alike ON the ice The bridge caught fire
near the middle pier The end toward that
where the engine stool fell first | helped
carry the injured t" the Paine house did
not throw any snow on the flames rs | de
voted all the time had to entering the car,
and freeing those who were bound down bN
the wrcckage think it would have beer
impossible to eNtinguish the flames if every
one of us had shuveled snow uJ,on them
The cars must have become ignitcd imme
diately when they struck, for when / looked
duwn'upon the wreck from the bridge tn,
rear end of the Puritan was afre | saw I
man lying ON his right side in the rear en-,
of this car, through "A window At th
t time he was pinned down up to his waist
and his back WAS on fire. lie did not move
and think he was dead then. | never saw
the man again. and he was undouhtedl,
T burned up, | think that the bridge ha,
t fallen down before the relief train from tn,
Z | junction arrived